One last thing?!?! Is it the end??

I really enjoyed navigating through all the activities. I have learned a lot of new ways to integrate technology into my classroom for future students. I enjoyed Animoto and learning about how to get students interested about blogging. The awesome thing about technology is that it is ever changing. If it continues to evolve as fast as everyone is saying, technology really will end up being the education of the future. 

As far as improvements, please make sure that all the programs are compatible with all computer types. I have many URLs that would not work with my Dell ( sorry, it's the only one I can afford). 

I will definitely keep up with my RSS feed to stay informed with all the new educational advancements!

Thing #23

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.


The above Copyright and attribution shows that Learning 2.0 and 23 things was based off original work and modified to fit appropriate educational content. 

I have found Creative Commons to be a useful tool to teach students about copyright and plagerism and allow them to check their work. It will also help them back up their work if it is 100% original and they want the credit so others can use it. 

Thing # 22

Livebinders appears to be a very useful tool for educators to save all their most prized electronic resources. Upon trying to complete my binder, I found the page difficult to navigate and very uncooperative for a website. There was no tutorial on the actual website about navigation and creation of the binders.

Thing #21

Blogspot Animoto



Working on Animoto was so much fun!



It was SUPER easy to use and navigate. The template and song I used really put life into my past, experiences and memories! This is a great way to put together classroom memories as a gift to students and their families at the end of the year. Teachers can provide a link to view the video. This is also a great way to pay tribute to different student organizations throughout the school year.

Thing #20

This was a recent you tube video I showed to my first grade science unit about how seeds travel to create plants. It can be difficult to find videos appropriate for children, and if I'm in a pinch to find another video to back up a lesson, I'm always afraid something inappropriate will pop up.
I like that I have the ability to post certain videos or tutorials to a potential classroom website or social media site to share with my students. Youtube can be a very helpful tool.

Thing # 19

Educators can use social media sites for a multitude of educational resources and forums. Educators can use social media as a bridge to connect to their students and show they each have a common ground. Educators can use social networking for assignments such as web quests and Wiki's. 

I belong to other social networks such as Pinterest and Google+, but will most likely not use these within the classroom. 

I would however potentially consider a classroom facebook group, but most school wifis do ot allow for this social media. 

Thing #18

Twitter...ugh. Although I have an account from ages ago, I am not a fan of this sight. One wrong move and BAM! anything you have said is in front of millions of eyes. However, if controlled, I can see twitter as a useful tool if focused on educated groups and focused on the education topic.
Educators need to understand how to use social media so that both they and their students are not improperly and irresponsibly posting inappropriate information, or displaying an organization improperly.
If Twitter came out with a strictly classroom focused news feed, that can be streamlined for individual classrooms, I think it could become a healthy format for communication, although as a teacher, I always prefer to teach social skills and how to use accountable talk face to face.

Thing # 17

It was very easy to Sign up on Delicious. All I did was have to sign up under my Google account, it does the rest for you!

Searching for educational technology was super easy and again, it basically did the work for me. As soon as links popped up, I was off clicking save on a bunch of useful links about educational technology.

Throughout this blog, we have been building up to creating the perfect desktop reference center for students. I can absolutely see having this tool in the classroom as a means of saving certain helpful links for web quests, informative presentations and papers and etc.

Thing #16

For the customized start page, I chose uStart,org. I like that I was able to choose the format of the widgets on it. I can allow my students to see latest news, economy and daily tasks that I can list. I can also add my RSS feed and Google drive to my start page to view those links as well. This was all very easy to put together.

I currently use my Google calender and have it linked to my phone. This is extremely convenient because anything I add in through my phone automatically syncs to my computer calendar as well. This is extremely useful when setting up Google drive and the start page, because students can use this as well to view upcoming assignment dates to learn how to become more accountable.

I have also used My Stickies in the past for desktop sticky notes. They have proved very helpful in the past, helping remeber online to-do lists. These would also be helpful for students when they get on computers as reminders for websites, passwords and daily reminders for computer centers.

Thing #15

Wiki's, in the past, have been scrutinized as untrustworthy sources of information. However, lately, wiki's have become the forefront of references for information. Wiki's offer information on hundreds of topics that are able to be viewed and even edited for all audiences. POsting and editing Wiki's are easy and accessible. I would, in my future classroom, enjoy creating a class Wiki where students can post information they found important that they learned in class that may help their classmates study for a test. It can also be a resource for future students to look at for book reports and other class activities.

Thing #14

https://www.gliffy.com/go/html5/5710613 - Flowchart
https://bubbl.us/?h=2048be/417cbd/21mGCvZU7gw4A&r=1418113049 - Mind Map

I chose these two formats for my blog because I enjoyed how easy they were to create. I preferred bubbl.us over gliffy because there were easy keyboard controls that allowed for ease of access. Both offered organization and easy navigation for the sites.

I would use either of these in my classroom to either create organizational charts for my students throughout subjects, or they could create their own when they need to layout a story or informational text writing assignment. These would both be very easy to create a tutorial for teaching these as well as easy navigation for students.

Thing #13

Google Drive Form

Google Drive Spreadsheet

Google Drive is a very interesting and yet, useful tool. I enjoy that I can create documents, spreadsheets, questionnaire forms and different drawings that anyone whom I want to access them, can. It is a great way to set up a class questionnaire that students can answer anonymously without the pressure of another student seeing. However, when I tried to create a document, the program would crash. Another way to use Google drive is that students' writing compositions are instantly saved on the internet and it is easy to share the documents. 

Thing #12

The Google trend.....

I am absolutely OBSESSED with Google. I am pretty sure I use it for just about anything. I have used Google Scholar in my path to obtaining my Master's degree and it has supplied me with a bunch of usable peer reviewed article to use in my research. this is a VERY useful tool that Googe has created.

Google Calendar is another very useful tool that helps me to stay organized. The cool thing about it is, if you have a Windows 8 computer like me, anything you put into that calendar and set it up with alerts, will automatically sinc to your Google account, that sends you reminder and alert emails, as well as sync to your email on your smart phone if you have that set up as well. This tool has saved me more times than I would like to admit, haha. And just like I had said in Google calendar, the alerts are amazing and can be set up across multiple technology devices.

Google Translate is a great, but not as important tool if you don't need it all the time. It is however, user friendly and can help you translate any language you need, from that language to English or English into that  specific language. 

Google trends kind of scares me in that they can find everything that was ever searched for through Google and statistically show what was searched for the most. I suppose it can be important in learning what kids are most interested in these days to try and form a connection by using what they like in their lessons. 

Google Books is one link that I would love to use in class with my students. They can use it to look up books they would like to read, are reading and have read. When creating text sets, this can prove to be very useful in providing pictures and information on books. When students use this tool, it can also help show them what types of literature falls into each category.

Google Plus Photo...... I am a Google + member and let me tell you, I have yet to be on Google + since the day I joined. I am not a fan of Google+. Reason #1: I don't like how public it is. Reason #2: I don't like how anyone can add you to their list and view your profile. I have had quite a few questionable characters add me and look at my profile. I promptly blocked them, but I dislike that I had to wait for them to search me to block them, instead of being able to block something like that from happening from the start. With that being said, I am 100% against putting any personal photos on my profile, and I will certainly not allow any students to create a profile and upload their photos on there. This is the only tool I am completely against using. 

Here's a link to my profile. Unfortunately it's empty because I am not sure how to make it unviewable by strangers or not so Google can use them for anything. 

Google+ Profile

Thing #11

Finding Good Feeds....



Some interesting blogs I have stumbled across are: Upside Down Education(Edublogs), Emerging EdTech(Googleblog), and Life in Special Education(Blogsearchengine.org).

Upside Down Education  is a great blog to read because the author is authentic in what she posts and feels. She covers anything from Barbie causing young girls to not want to aspire to anything past a high school degree, to authentic assessments and the view of a parent/teacher.

Emerging EdTech is a blog found on Googleblog. It offers many topics such as onlinne portfolios, to emerging technologies that can be used in the classroom. They use daily updated twitter feeds and post links to different educational websites to help keep technology updated in the classroom.

The last blog, that is near and dear to my heart- Life in Special Education- is important because I too, am looking to work in a special education classroom. She has everythin gon her blog from creative crafts to help keeps her classroom organized, to great ideas for behavior management to helping teachers keep their planning simple. She also offers different points of view from different teachers throughout her blogs. I absolutely loved this site!

I found Edublogs the most easy to use as far as locating blogs that I was looking for. For me, Google blog was the most confusing because it also contained news articles and other things that weren't specifically focused on blogs or subjects I was looking for. As far as googling other blog feeds, I couldn't really find anything that would work well to search for educational blogs except for the one I had already found. This was definitely an educational journey in finding these blogs!

Thing #10

Creating an RSS reader and adding feeds....


So, I'm not very good at the technology thing... (we typically don't get along) and I end up messing something up. BUT, being able to follow my most favorite blogs as easy as a link is fantastic. 
Feedly will be an amazing tool for teachers to keep accessible on their desktop, not only for themselves, but for their students(depending on the student's age, of course). I think all of the blogs have some information to share and educate both parties. The blogs I chose were: Edudemic, Cool Cat teacher Blog, Education Blog, Free Technology for Teachers, and Lisa Nielson: The Innovative Teacher. Each of these blogs has something to offer. Edudemic focuses more on technology and communication between teachers and students and whether those more concrete objects are more beneficial. Cool Cat offers general ideas on just about anything that can supplement education in the classroom, or even outside the classroom. Education is a site more for teachers, educating them on changes to the education system, testing, as well as education news updates. This could potentially be used with the older high school students in educating them about their own education. Free Technology for Teachers offers all kinds of links for teachers from iPad apps to how to use the apps and websites within the education curriculum. The Innovative teacher offers topics such as web safety, using cellphones, to top posts and helping young adults find jobs and internships.

These sites have so much to offer! I can't wait to dig deeper and find out what else they come up with!

Thing #9

Online Image Generators....


Now, here is something that I can become quickly addicted to....and I think I have!




ImageChef was probably the easiest image generator website I had come across. I'm not sure if my computer was not compatible with the rest, or if it was users error. I love including quotes within my lessons as well as posting images on motivational powerpoints. With this type of software, I can combine my two favorite things! If anyone has any other suggestion on image generator websites, please share! Thanks :)

Thing #8

Flickr Mashups-

                       



                                           

            


Like I had said in my last post, I think Flickr could be used as a great tool for a teacher to use to share with student's families about what is going on in class through the means of pictures. HOWEVER, I do believe that this could be a dangerous way to share with anyone as it is a public sight that you can view anyone's pictures and profiles. This would not be good for students to be able to use independently and post whatever they would like. I'm all about the safety and privacy of anything I use. Using this Flickr sight to create words out of different pictures would be a great thing for a teacher to use in Powerpoints and worksheets to make things more fun for students. It's a fun little hobby to have, for sure.

Thing #7

Exploring Flickr

....what?

I have definitely NEVER heard of this program before. Interesting.... as I have always viewed myself as up on the new photography technology, haha.

Upon investigating flicker.com, I have found that it can be compared to Instagram. Although no one is allowed to view your Instagram without you permission. I think Flickr allows anyone to view your profile?

I have uploaded a photo to my blog of my recent trip to the Virgin Islands. THis specific piture is from St. Lucia, in one of their rain forests. SO pretty!

I have not found inserting a URL address very easy. I am not finding this site very user friendly. I suppose I am an Instagram follower.

This could definitely work as a class online photo account though, allowing parents of students access to view what the class is doing that week or post photos of activities that parents come in and help with.

St. Lucia Rainforest

St. Lucia Rainforest, a photo by czolkie10 on Flickr.

Thing #6

Discovering Web 2.0 tools:

Ok, ok, I'm starting to enjoy this whole "Web 2.0" thing. I'm still skeptical, but I am finding different things that I can use for my students or with them to help them create graphics for projects and what not. Searching through the Web 2.0 tools, I came across this nifty little site called Canva.  This site is amazing! It is exactly what I have been looking for to create graphics for posters, or even my facebook page.

Here's the link to the site: Canva

The site walks you through a tutorial on how to make your graphics or collages or anything you desire!
I have yet to find anything I dislike about this site except that you need to be careful you don't end up paying for anything, but it's EXTREMELY user friendly!

Thing #5

Some Perspectives on Web 2.0/School 2.0 and the Future of Education

Web 2.0, huh? Future of education? As much as I am all about our future generations being taught through a medium that keeps up with our current technological advances and making school "fun", I am not sure if I am completely sold on it. Wikipedia states that, "Major features of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, user created Web sites, self-publishing platforms, blogs, wikis, folksonomies, video sharing sites, tagging, and social bookmarking. "

I work in a school that is considered Title I. Most of the students I work with are considered at risk for being held back or failing out. most of the kids I work with already have difficulty reading, writing and communicating their feelings through writing mediums. I understand that educators wish to use technology to expand students ability to find information or expand new ways of teaching them information. But I have always been old fashioned when it came to teaching. Using technology to me, in this manner removes the teachers ability to actually teach the students and they lose that ability to communicate and actually write to communicate. They have technology to do that for them. 

Now, I'm not bashing the idea of Web 2.0, but I think that there are things that can be utilized, but not all the time. I feel it is so impersonal to sit on a computer and communicate through blogs to submit assignments or receive lesson material. However, allowing students to read other peoples blogs from all over the world, or just country can expand their knowledge of the people in this world and how others may view things, as well as build relationships with people of other cultures outside of their own community. I just become afraid that the education world will strictly rely on technology to teach our students. I think it should be supplemental in their education, not the primary teaching tool. 

School 2.0 to me is building a classroom curriculum that can be supplemented by technological advances and mediums of communication. It allows and teaches students to become involved and educated on the topics which they research or the people they communicate with. Teaching students with technology will also prepare them to understand technology as well as communicating with technology for future jobs, since the job force is moving to a more technology based field.  

Thing #4

             Commenting within someone's blog is a powerful tool. It helps to create a sense of community and interaction. When you comment on someone's thoughts, you are showing them that you hear and understand what they are writing. It also shows that you are interested in what they have to say. As the author of a blog, you give readers the ability and forum to cast a vote on an important topic. This has everyone participating, not just the writer saying how something is going to be. Audiences can have input into what is written about. 

                When people post to other blogs, this allows other bloggers to see who is out there. One point I have found important is drawing attention to your own blog. If you comment appropriately on someone's blog, and they like what they read, this may cause them to want to read what you are writing about. It is important to build an audience of supporters as a blogger. These supporters will also want to share ideas, facts, opinions and information with you that will only help you grow as a blogger. This is only the start to creating a healthy, supportive blogging community.

                The second thing I found important was that you really do become part of the life of the blogger that you are reading. Commenting on someone's blog is not just a one and done kind of thing. You become invested. You are showing them that you are there, you hear them, and you are ready to support, defend and contribute to whatever they have to offer. They will depend on you for these things and you will find yourself continually interested and wanting to contribute.

I commented on:

- Candice Somer's "The Future of Education"Web 2.0 & School 2.0.- I found through her post that she and I have a similar viewpoint when it comes to technology and blog use within the classroom. It's nice to have support!

"Candice, I completely agree with your point of view. I'm a huge "techie" when it comes to classroom instruction, and have seen it's benefits. I do however understand the issues with funding the technological advancements to keep our kids up to date with the most recent technology. It is definitely a hassle, but I am finding that if a school is title I, that's where they tend to put their money first. As far as safety, it isn't any different than a hacker trying to access the schools administration information."

- Nicole DeCastro- "Thing # 9 : Online Image Generator"- This post is very helpful. I've always been interested in how to create these, and it's great to see someone else as interested as myself.

"It's nice to know there are others as confused as me as to how people made images and memes. Thank you for your feedback on what you thought worked. I definitely agree that using these within our instruction will help to build a connection with our students and help to keep their attention during instruction or help rejuvenate them after an instructional power point. 


-Emily Ellison- "Thing #6"- This is a helpful post for finding educational websites for elementary students to access and use to improve their skills. She does a great job of giving both the pros and cons of using the websites."

"This is a really informational post. Thank you for your feedback and insight on these websites!


-Matthew Nixon  - Thing #1

"I absolutely agree with the problems vs. challenges habit. I tend to find myself not being able to differentiate between the two, causing my problems to get bigger and get the best of me. Instead I need to start reminding myself that nothing is a problem unless I allow it to be and i can easily make it into a challenge to find a solution or learn something new about myself that I haven't before. Thanks for sharing!"

- Rachel Cruise- Thing #11

"Rachel, this is very helpful information! I definitely agree that most of these didn't surprise me on which ones were most popular, but I found that some were either easier or more interesting to navigate than others. I definitely agree as well that I questioned things when of all educational programs, Bulgaria popped up. What's up with that? I've never even thought of their country in the means of education. I guess you learn something new every day? Good luck with everything!"

- Themodernausten (http://www.themodernausten.com)

"I really appreciate this advice. I have just began blogging myself and am finding it hard to keep up, or even deciding on which topics to touch on first. I like getting my ideas out there, but find it difficult. Thank you for the wonderful tips and suggestions as well as your honest words of advice for those wanting to get out here and blog!"
                 She is a sorority sister of mine and has taken the blogging world by storm. I enjoy reading her blog posts that focus on the growing woman, but anyone can really connect with her. She discusses anything and everything with a very honest voice. 

Thing #3

I am a firm believer in allowing students to voice their opinions through an appropriate media with an appropriate but real audience. I also believe that educators can do the exact same thing. With educators being able to track their successes, failures, ideas, and suggestions from a different viewpoint on teaching that they can share with the education world.As an educator, I would use a personal blog that my students would be able to access for information, homework, a place where they may feel safer to discuss topics that were brought up in class, or a way to share what my class is doing with parents. The ways in which I may use a blog at the student level would be to create student written blogs that pertain to writing prompts that week, or a blog that tracks how students feel and what they are thinking while working on a project, or a place for students to appropriately express their feelings about their school day.I also think this would be a good way for students to build an online e-portfolio of their writing prompts and be able to comment on how they think they did and allow other classmates to appropriately offer encouragement, criticism and ideas.

Thing #2

Creating this blog was....interesting. First of all, I needed to fight the urge to cower back to my comfort zone. Blogs have never really been my cup of tea. Of course in school, I was always writing papers that were already predetermined how and what I was going to write. Reading books were too easy because the author would guide me on how I was to feel, or understand, or picture what they were writing about. But, I have never been able to just write down what I was thinking without some kind of predestined format to precede it.
Lucky for me, setting up my blog was somewhat easy and quick. Selecting my blog name was actually a piece of cake since the first letter of my last name rhymes with 23. Picking a theme for my blog was the thing that took the most time because I wanted it to reflect my personality. I was fun trying to create my avatar to look like me. I decided to go with an accurate avatar because I always remain true to myself. I never try to be anyone but the best version of myself.

Thing #1

Life long learning..... This is definitely something that I feel most people take for granted, or forget to do. I believe this is one of our greatest gifts; to be able to continuously learn and grow no matter our age or ability. Every interaction is a learning opportunity. We just need to open our mind up to the idea. I have found myself always taking full advantage of my ability to be a lifelong learner. There are definite things that I know are my strong points, and some that are my weakest when it comes to me growing as a person, student and future educator. My strongest habit I have in becoming a lifelong learner is my ability to set goals way ahead in the future, and without much trouble, I am able to reach 99% of those goals. Goal setting is not the problem. Where my true kryptonite lay, is within my lack of ability to view problems as challenges. I don't like things getting in my way, or slowing the achievement of my goals down. Those unforeseen issues are like a thorn in my side. I am aware of this inability to get past this habit and try to work towards viewing problems as a character builder and a learning opportunity, not only for that specific problem, but  for myself personally.

This blog is definitely helping me in the journey of being a lifelong learner. I have never blogged before or knew how to do it! This is definitely out of my comfort zone, but I am enjoying it so far. It was really simple setting up the blog, and surprisingly easy to figure out what I want to say.